It's a Start
by Cassandra Sisenta
Summary: Eriol managed to set-up Syaoran and Sakura at last. Heck, the match was written in the stars! But what he didn't expect was that he could find his own match--if he tapdanced under a streetlamp!


"It's a Start"

By: Cassandra Sisenta

Hiragizawa Eriol was smiling as he watched the couple kiss under the pale illumination of the moon. The day was over and the deed was done. Love has finally won over and happiness shone brightly on those two. 

__

Finally! He remarked silently to himself as he gave an almost exasperated sigh. It took those two long enough to finally make their feelings known to each other. 

He silently made his way through the darkness of the park, making sure that he cloaked his powerful presence from the Sakura Card Mistress and the soon-to-be Li clan master. He stopped underneath a tall oak tree and smiled up at the two figures of his two former guardians who were faithfully watching over their current master and friend. 

He continued on his way towards the way home. There was nothing more he could do here now. They had chosen their path and it was all up to them now. Magic isn't going to be of use for them. It was never right to tamper with the emotions. 

Eriol shook his head as he realized something. He did use magic to bring Sakura and Shaoran together. That was the purpose of the Ai no Kimochi cards: to bring the Clow Card Mistress and her true soulmate together. At least they were happy now.

A flash of sudden memory came into his mind. A woman with long dark hair that flowed to her waist and down her slender back stood beside a Sakura tree. She was dressed in white and purple robes. She was beautiful with pale, fragile-looking skin and gentle features. He remembered her smell, the texture of her hair, the way she felt in his arms…_ Yoshino…_

Thinking back on those moments, he asked himself now if he would ever find love again? The one Clow Reed loved, Yoshino, never became his. It was never in his destiny to be married but he had loved this woman, yes. Yoshino was an apprentice magician from Japan that he had just happened to meet as he was walking along the countryside one day. 

__

But of course, she had to move on and do what she is fated: be married to someone else. Eriol murmured to himself as he walked soundly against the pavement. He smiled as he discovered another talent of his. He snapped his fingers and made a simple spell. His feet began to move and tap lightly against the ground. It would have been strange if someone saw him. A foreign boy tap dancing in the sidewalk in the middle of the night. Nakuru and Spinel would probably think that their master had fallen under a crazy spell of some sort. 

He was stopped from his exploration when he heard clapping from behind him. He turned around to find himself looking at Daidouji Tomoyo, Sakura's best friend.

The dark haired girl was smiling in her usual way and clapping with the same glee that could be seen whenever her attentions were on Sakura. The girl was very fascinated with her best friend. Eriol saw it as an obsession at first but then he couldn't blame her anymore when he was exposed first-hand to what the little sorceress could really do. 

She stopped clapping and gave him a smile that made something in him tick. "Sugoi Hiragizawa-kun." She remarked, stepping out from the shadows to stand in front of him under the light of the streetlight She smiled wider as she neared him. Now he knew why he saw something familiar in her. He saw himself in the way she smiled. They could have been identical twins for they had the same coy, serene smiles.

"I should have known that you could also tap dance."

Eriol returned her smile with one of his. Now they really looked alike. "Arigato gozaimasu, Daidouji-san." He responded with a gallant bow to match. "I surmise you had a wonderful time tonight?"

Her eyes closed as she smiled with content and sighed. "Of course! Those two had finally gotten together. I don't know how they did it but those two had been so slow! If I were in Sakura's position I would have said to Li-kun what I wanted to say a long time ago." She was leaning against the streetlight as she busied herself with her ever-existent camera. The light cast a glow on her that gave her a bright outline that made her look ethereal. 

__

Like a fairy… He quickly caught himself when he realized what he had been thinking. He shook his head to clear it and tried to understand. _Why did I just think that? I guess I never really looked at her like this or I never had the opportunity to. Tomoyo looks really beautiful tonight. Wait a minute, did I just say "Tomoyo"? I meant Daidouji! Hmm, what is happening to me? Well, it seems Hiragizawa Eriol doesn't seem to contemplate something. Omoishiroi…_

"Hiragizawa-kun?" He was pulled out of his musings with the sound of a voice that sounded like an angel's whisper. It was still Tomoyo. She had moved close to him and her hand was on his shoulder in a manner of concern. That concern was all over her face as he realized that only a few inches set them apart from each other. She was so close he could smell her perfume, a heady scent of lavander, and he could just angle his head down and take those red, delectable-looking lips of hers. His gaze was held captive when she moved her lips and asked, "Daijoubu desu ka?"

"D-daijoubu." He answered as best as he could but it sounded more like shaky recovery of dignity for him. He turned his head away from her concerned gaze as he forced his eyes to sweep the area, trying to hide the warmth that was beginning to overtake his whole body in a rampage. 

He must be crazy. Why is he even thinking about kissing now? And Sakura's best friend much less! Nakuru will have a field day if she ever found out about her ever solemn and level-headed master losing his composure over a girl he had known for as long as he had known about Sakura. It was funny. Since when was the great Clow Reed like this? Clueless and panicking? He was supposed to be the all-knowing one around here for goodness sake!

"It's late." Eriol managed to say as he inclined his head towards the direction of the road. "Shouldn't you have been picked up by your bodyguards by now?"

"Why Hiragizawa-kun, do you really want to get rid of me that much?"

Her tone was so teasing that he just had to look back at her face just to see what expression she had on her face. Her face was a picture of sly beauty. _What in bloody hell…_

"Kidding." She said after a while, grinning slightly.

"I-I knew that was a joke Tomoyo—I mean Daidouji-san." He insisted, finding himself in a more askew position than he was a while ago. "You didn't have to say that you were joking at all."

Tomoyo shrugged as she shifted her weight to her other foot. Eriol didn't know why but he was suddenly very conscious of how she moved. "That look you had on your face looked like you were so stricken or something." She said that in a very wistful tone as she turned her head away. She seemed to be looking for her bodyguards. Just when Eriol thought he could relax, she turned back to him with a look of thoughtfulness in her face.

"What?"

"Did you just call me 'Tomoyo'?" Her voice was a whisper. Her gaze was searing and her nearness was nerving. "Hiragizawa-kun, you called me 'Tomoyo'."

At that moment, Eriol thought she was mad at him. He held his hands up and began shaking his head rapidly that was so unlike him. "If you're offended, I apologize. It was a slip of the tongue. I should have-"

Her face contorted in a puzzled expression as she watched the boy ramble. She caught his hands suddenly as he began to back away and forced him to look at her. "Eriol-kun."

He stopped when she heard her speak his first name. It sounded a lot better with her saying it in her gentle voice. The word slipped through her tongue like her hair flying against the wind. 

She smiled her brightest smile as she remained fixed in the spot in front of him as if to comfort him. "May I call you that now?"

He looked back at her with his usual mask of solemnity but inside he was trying frantically to do something. Anything. Looking at their hands linked together like that, he was surprised at the intimacy of the simple and common gesture. _You're thrown in quite a shock aren't you? Yes Eriol, you might be a powerful mage, an excellent student, someone mature and worldly but when it came to the dealings of the real human experience you're as lost as a lamb stalked by a wolf. _

Look at her. She is beautiful. Nothing you would ever think would really exist that could be for you and you alone. Do not be scared. This is something that everyone passes through, even you who have lived countless years in that tiny frame before you allowed yourself to develop normally with time. 

Don't deny that you have always admired her. Before it was her courage and her deep devotion. Behind the camera lens, she always kept a straight face so as not to worry Sakura. The fact that she was always by her side was something astounding already. There are very few people like that who exist in these times. 

Just like what she is, an angel, her voice adds a more ethereal effect. How many times had you caught yourself thinking of the only time that you talked directly and personally to her? That time when you said that she had such a beautiful voice? Just how many times had you replayed the way she smiled with pleasure at what you said? Hadn't you dreamed, even fleetingly, that she would sing for you someday?

Could I be…feeling for her?

"Eriol-kun?"

Eriol smiled again, but this time it was filled with something else. His grip on her hands were gentle and warm. He looked into her sparkling eyes and wished. _May this lead to something…magical._

"Yes, Tomoyo. However, I think it would be better if we dropped the formalities." His eyes seemed to sparkle with something akin to mischief as he spoke. "How many years had we known each other? Well, with your approval…"

The light in her eyes seemed to brighten even more at his suggestion and he felt somewhat happier than he had ever been. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

He smiled at her again and at the same time his gaze dropped to his watch. "It's late. May you allow me to escort you home? It seems that your bodyguards aren't coming."

"If you promise to stay for dinner." 

"Won't your mother mind?"

"No, I think she would really like to meet you, my friend Eriol." Tomoyo said in perfect English. This clearly impressed the mage.

Eriol clapped his hands and chuckled. "That's Tomoyo. What can't you do?"

Tomoyo laughed, making him smile tenderly at their wake. She began to walk at the same time Eriol did towards the way of her house. She smiled back at him, a perfect epitome of his own. "Capture Clow Cards."

Eriol chuckled as he threaded his fingers through his hair, satisfied at last. "Good thing that you cannot. Being with magically inclined people all the time is not that much fun once you get too much of it. A sorcerer needs his variety."

"Oh Eriol. Wait 'til I tell Sakura and Li-kun what you have just said." She looked somewhat surprised when he paused and offered his arm to her.

"I don't mind my dear Tomoyo." Eriol sighed in English as he bathed in the warmth coming from her. Completion was what he felt when she accepted his offer and when she looked back at him in the eye. "I won't mind at all."

And to this, she smiled, of course.


End file.
